Video games maker Topware has won another piracy case, this time scoring £16,000 after it said a woman illegally shared one of its titles online. Topware has been bringing several cases recently against people it says have distributed its games over the internet, in what FT.com says is the “increasingly assertive US-style approach of media companies to protecting their wares”. Topware said Isabela Barwinska illegally shared its Dream Pinball 3D title; Topware won £6,086 costs and £10,000 damages.

The strategy has parallels with the direct legal action taken by the RIAA against American music sharers, though few comparisons with the emerging consensus for education and warnings practiced by ISPs and the British music industry; their recent memorandum of understanding referred to music and movies but not games. Still, Topware’s lawyer said: “This shows that taking direct steps against infringers is an important and effective weapon in the battle against online piracy.”

Meanwhile, a New York woman agreed to settle one RIAA action (only one has ever gone to trial) by paying $6,050 for having downloaded eight tracks from KaZaA - the equivalent of $756 per song, Wired reports. But the RIAA wins some and loses some - in another case, it’s paying a disabled mother $108,000 for a “false” accusation she and her son downloaded gangsta rap songs, VNU says.